CNCI Mizoram decries misleading figure of Chakma population

Kamalanagar/Aizawl (zoramobserver.com): Chakma National Council of India (CNCI) Mizoram State Committee has decried the alleged misleading figure of Chakma population presented by Mizo NGOs and a political party in their memorandum to the central government.

The meeting of CNCI Mizoram state committee on Monday alleged that fear of Chakma population increasing abnormally based on fabricated figures is being spread to mislead and create anti-Chakma sentiments among the innocent people of Mizoram.

It alleged that Mizo NGOs and Zoram Nationalist Party have recently submitted memorandums first to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and then to Sri Satyapal Singh, Chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee on Citizenship Amendment Bill, presenting misleading figure of Chakma population in Mizoram, a statement issued by CNCI said on Monday.

The meeting observed that the presentation of Chakma population at 80,000 according to 1991 general census was far from truth as in fact there were only 54,217 Chakmas in Mizoram in the same year.

Expressing pain over the unethical misrepresentation of fact which was termed ‘unfortunate’, the meeting also said that Chakma population of 2001 census has been often conjured to be 1,50,000 with a deliberate intention to create undue fear in the minds of the people despite census figure which is just 71,283.

CNCI has conducted a study of Chakma population in Mizoram as per census data available post-independent India and found no such abnormality in their growth rate as is very often projected, CNCI said in a statement.

According to the organisation, there were only 93,411 Chakmas in Mizoram against the total population 10,03,795 as per 2011 general census registering only 36.46 per cent growth.

The meeting therefore, remarked that the Union Ministry is not naïve that it would be misled by such manufactured figures.

Despite resources at one’s disposal to corroborate facts on Chakma population it is mysterious how responsible political parties like ZNP and Mizo NGOs like the MZP can misrepresent facts, the statement also said.

Co-Editor, Zoramobserver.com. Mr. Khojol is a journalist based in Aizawl, Mizoram. He writes for various national and regional media houses. In his free time, he can be caught reading books and watching movies.